Ragged 1st inning does in Giants / Rockies score 5 runs, take control of game

Published 4:00 am, Saturday, September 1, 2001

Before the start of last night's game, Giants manager Dusty Baker said his team was "running on empty." By the looks of their 5-2 loss to the last- place Colorado Rockies, the home nine appears to have definitely hit "E."

News that five players from Triple-A Fresno will be added as major-league rosters are expanded today can only come as a relief.

"We're looking for as much as we can get," Baker said. "It really helps to have some depth."

Baker & Co. can only hope someone injects the same kind of unexpected success pitcher John Thomson provided Colorado last night. The Rockies scored five runs in the first inning and entrusted the comfortable lead to the 27- year-old right-hander.

He had more than enough to keep the Giants off-stride until Barry Bonds' home run drove him from the game with one out in the eighth inning.

"You have to give Thomson credit, he threw great," Baker said.

Bonds connected on his 57th of the season -- on an 0-2 fastball -- following a Rich Aurilia double to provide the Giants with their only runs of the night. The 551st homer of Bonds' career carried into McCovey Cove on the fly, giving the sellout crowd its one moment to rejoice all evening.

Thomson was making just his ninth start at the big-league level this season.

He opened the campaign in Triple-A on a medical rehabilitation assignment. Thomson spent all of last season on Colorado's 60-day disabled list while rehabbing in the minors after surgery on Oct. 12, 1999, to repair a torn labrum in his right shoulder and to correct a recurring blister problem on a finger on his right hand.

Thomson completed his climb back to the majors when he started May 12, exactly 19 months to the day since the surgery. He was, however, only 1-5 with a 4.47 earned-run average, and never had pitched as deep into a game this season before last night.

"Our scouts told us he's been getting better since coming back from surgery,

and we saw it tonight," Baker said.

The Rockies turned two hits and starter Russ Ortiz's control problems into a big first inning. Ortiz had held Colorado to three runs over 16 innings in his two previous home starts against them this year.

Juan Pierre drew a leadoff walk and moved to third when Jose Ortiz's hit- and-run grounder squirted through the vacated hole at short as Aurilia went to cover the bag. After Larry Walker was called out on strikes, Todd Helton hit a slow roller to first. J.T. Snow threw to the plate, but Benito Santiago dropped the ball, and Colorado broke through on the fielder's choice.

"J.T. was just trying to be aggressive. It was a good throw," Baker said. "Sometimes that happens."

Ortiz walked Greg Norton to load the bases, then forced in a run when he lost No. 6 hitter Alex Ochoa on a 3-1 delivery. Juan Uribe ripped Ortiz's next pitch just out of the reach off center fielder Calvin Murray, a drive that bounced over the fence for a two-run, ground-rule double. Gary Bennett delivered a sacrifice to left to cap the rally.

"The next thing you know they've got five runs on the board," said Ortiz, who allowed only three baserunners over the next six innings.

The Giants collected two hits in two of the first three innings but failed to break through on Thomson, who then got into a groove. He retired nine consecutive batters starting with one out in the fifth to take the game into the late innings.

Aurilia's third hit of the game -- a one-out double in the eighth -- finally snapped the drought.

NOTES: Trainer Stan Conte said disabled pitcher Shawn Estes will test his injured left ankle while he fields bunts and covers first base during simulated action today. "That is by far the biggest obstacle," Conte said of Estes' injury hindering his mobility, but not his pitching. "We'll have a better idea if he can field his position, and in 48 hours we'll see how the ankle reacts." . . . Conte added that relief pitcher Wayne Gomes (patellar tendinitis, right knee) is on target for activation from the DL on Monday. . . . Mark Gardner threw 55 pitches in Fresno during a third rehab performance Thursday. . . . Colorado third baseman Jeff Cirillo was a late scratch because of lower back pain. He was replaced by Norton. . . . Prior to the game, a moment of silence was observed in honor of the late Hank Sauer.